International patent application WO 2005/009973 discloses various pyrazole- and midazole-based compounds or pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives thereof that have cytokine inhibitory activity. It discloses such compounds can be used to treat conditions associated with p38 kinases, especially p38α and β kinases, including inter alia asthma, allergies, adult respiratory distress syndrome and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
WO 2005/009973 discloses 3-[5-amino-4-(3-cyanobenzoyl)-pyrazol-1-yl]-N-cyclopropyl-4-methylbenzamide as one such novel pyrazole-based p38 kinase inhibitor and describes processes for its preparation.
It has now been found that 3-[5-amino-4-(3-cyanobenzoyl)-pyrazol-1-yl]-N-cyclopropyl-4-methylbenzamide and pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives thereof are useful in treating acute exacerbations of chronic obstruction pulmonary disease. Surprisingly a single dose, for example administered orally, accelerates the recovery to the stable disease state. As such this treatment represents a new and innovative type of treatment that is disease-modifying, at least in the short term, and thereby provides significant benefits over existing maintenance therapies and existing rescue therapies.